If you guys think this is a new concept, guess again. It's been happening since the closing of Maple Leaf Gardens and probably about half of the teams that have won the cup since then have done this type of promotion. Just browsing through eBay, I can tell you that the Rangers, Avs, Stars, Lightning, Kings, and now Hawks have done it.

"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!" - Kierkegaard

If I recall correctly, they filmed the entire process of the ice melting and putting into the tubes, etc. So it is what it says it is. Good for the Hawks for coming up with a good way to raise money for charity.

Different sport, but I remember reading about some outrageous sports items people have bought, and I distinctly remember a man paying $10,000 for Luis Gonzalez' chewed up bubble gum which I assume was from the World Series.

People will pay anything for any item related to sports. Good thing about this though is the proceeds go to charity.

Lambeau is grass, if I'm not mistaken. I'm curious now how they sold it. Was it a clump with soil? Or just some grass? Was it preserved somehow? Encased?

I'm a Lions fan through and through, but the Packers have such a great history that I'll root for them unless it hurts the Lions.

Correct. When they sold the turf it was 100% grass and it was sold in a sealed box with the grass/dirt chunk inside plastic. It was essentially just like when you buy sod for a new yard but smaller....roughly 6" wide by 8" long. Some people just kept it preserved in the box while others (like us) planted it in their yards so we had official Lambeau Field grass growing in it. It's a great conversation piece.

Anyway, now the Packers (like most NFL teams) have the 50-50 Mix of grass and artificial turf grass. The mixed artificial turf grass doesn't become a mess during rain/snow games like the old 100% grass fields did.

It's amazing how much clarity comes when you care more about the Red Wings than any individual player.

"They are the best team in the world. They are a team that can just take over when they want to," Chicago's Patrick Kane said (of the Detroit Red Wings).

You know, if they were selling the ice when they won a couple of years ago, I'd kinda understand it, what with breaking the Cup drought. If they were selling ice that they actually won the Cup on, I'd kinda sorta understand that. This is nothing other than end-of-season ice.